Overnight storms leave more than 20,000 in Chicago area without power

EVANSTON, Ill. - Tens of thousands of people woke up without power Wednesday morning after late-night storms blew through the Chicago area, downing trees and causing damage.

ComEd reports 23,332 people were experiencing outages as of 6 a.m. Wednesday. At 10 p.m. last night, more than 40,000 customers were without power. You can tap here to check out current outages.

Wind gusts of up to 60 mph, scattered lightning and even hail came down in several rounds of storms across the area. Cook, DuPage and Lake counties were all under Severe Thunderstorm Warnings.

Des Plaines was one of the suburbs hit hardest by the storms. Raul Rodriguez was enjoying his pool during record heat when he saw a dark cloud swirling over his house. He went inside and heard the sounds of trees cracking.

"I went in the basement and took shelter, I’ve never seen anything like it," Rodriguez said.

Neighbors removed heavy limbs, so cars could get through, but a power line fell into the street, over a house and across a backyard pool.

Al and Nancy Range have lived on Ambleside Road for dozens of years and said they had not witnessed a storm like last night's.

"I have never seen wind, in the 35 years that we've lived here, so strong. I said to my wife, Nancy, ‘I’m surprised we still have power.' And within 5 seconds, the power went out," Al said.

Large trees were brought down in Evanston, including one near Northwestern University's John Evans Alumni Center.

Service on the CTA Yellow Line was temporarily halted around 5 a.m. due to storm debris scattered across the tracks.

Chicago broke a heat record on Tuesday, with temperatures at O'Hare Airport reaching 99 degrees, surpassing the previous record of 97 degrees set on August 27, 1973.

Today's weather will be slightly cooler but still muggy with temperatures in the mid-80s. There is a chance for an occasional storm or shower to pop up in the Chicago area this afternoon.